Violence is a critical mechanism used in settler colonialism to remove indigenous populations.
By Cody O'Rourke
cody@goodshepherdcollective.org
By GSC Staff
Here are some sobering facts about Israel's ongoing genocide and what appears to be a strategy to push Palestinians from the north to the south in a tiny little ethnic enclave to exterminate. As Israel has now dropped some 25,000 tons of explosives — the equivalent of 2 atomic bombs — Israel and its supporters have now killed some 9,061 Palestinians. Two-thirds are children and women.
As Israel tries to mount a ground invasion in northern Gaza and Gaza City to push and seal off Palestinians in the south of Gaza, it has carried out multiple bombings on residential spaces in the north, particularly in the Jabalia Refugee camp, killing 250 Palestinians. In destroying some 45% of housing, nearly 1.5 million people are displaced in Gaza as of November 2, with over 690,000 taking refuge in 149 UNRWA shelters. Crowding intensifies as many leave host homes for public shelters, seeking sustenance and services, pushing facilities to 4 times their capacity. Another 121,750 IDPs are in hospitals and churches, and around 99,150 in 82 non-UNRWA schools. The rest, 550,000-600,000, are with host families, with 150,000 recently moving to shelters for food and services.
Israel appears to be consolidating Palestinians into tightly packed areas, presumably for a final strike — all with the blessing of Joe Biden, the Democratic party, and the larger political 'left.' For example, UNRWA shelters are now hosting nearly 4x their capacity, with up to 240 IDPs in spaces meant for far fewer, crowding into 40-60 sqm rooms. Khan Younis Training Centre is extremely overstretched, sheltering 22,100 people, over tenfold its intended capacity. Right now, Israeli generals are licking their chops at the prospect of dropping a bomb on these spaces. Which, of course, they have: On November 2, Israel struck 4 UNRWA shelters, impacting ~20,000 IDPs, killing 23 dead and injuring more.
To carry out a genocide, decimating a population's health system is critical. Understanding this, Israel's bombing has led to 14 major hospitals and 51 primary care centers in Gaza being shut down due to damage or fuel shortages, putting countless lives in jeopardy. This includes the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, Gaza’s only cancer hospital, which was forced to shut down after it was directly bombed by Israeli forces. Cancer patients have already started dying as they are denied access to the care they need. The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza is at a standstill with its main generator out of fuel, risking lives as hundreds of injured from recent Jabalia camp hostilities rely on it. Shifa Hospital also faces a fuel crisis.
The MoH in Gaza warns of a critical fuel shortage at Shifa and Indonesian Hospitals, jeopardizing patients on life support, including 42 children, 62 wounded on respirators, and 650 with kidney failure, and calls for international and local aid to avert a crisis. In Gaza, 14 out of 35 inpatient hospitals and 2 specialist outpatient centers are non-operational. Moreover, 71% of primary care facilities are shut down, including 74% in Gaza City and 92% in the north. This is by design, to ensure that Palestinians are condensed in the south of Gaza. Don't let the Israeli “leftists” like Itay Mack or Haaretz convince you this isn't a genocide.
Israel's systematic destruction of Gaza's water system has, as planned, has accelerated sanitation woes and the consumption of unsafe water among Gaza's displaced. There are rising reports of respiratory, skin, and diarrheal diseases among IDPs — and with winter settling in, the spread of other diseases and viruses will decimate the compromised. As of November 2, southern Gaza's water wells and desalination plants are halted, and fuel is depleted. One of three water pipelines from Israel to Gaza's central region is functioning, supplying 500 cubic meters per hour to areas like Nuseirat and Bureij. The line to western Khan Younis remains cut off since October 30, and the northern pipeline has been closed since October 8. The destruction of water infrastructure by Israeli airstrikes in the south exacerbates this problem, making it impossible for many Palestinians in Gaza to access water even if water is allowed to flow.
Israel understands that the PR of carrying out a genocide, where the victims can narrate their own story, is a HUGE problem. To try to ensure that Palestinian stories don't reach the outside world, they have targeted communications infrastructure with mass bombings. The impact of this has stretched far beyond Palestinians’ ability to convey information to the rest of the world. They cannot even reach each other, and as a result, family members cannot contact each other, ambulance and rescue teams struggle to reach those trapped in debris, and civilians lack vital information on accessing aid and safer locations. Israel's strategy to cut off Palestinians' ability to report on the ongoing genocide has been somewhat successful. 60% of electrical nodes are down. 65% of homes and businesses are offline. 36% of local fiber routes are severed. Additionally, nearly half of the street-level network infrastructure is damaged. Jawwal, the main mobile provider for 85% of Gaza's population, reports 65% of its radio sites are out of service. Gaza's communications were restored after a 9-hour outage on November 1 — not because Elon Musk gave the embattled Palestinian people of Gaza Starlink. It was Palestinian technicians who braved the constant Israeli air assaults to repair the infrastructure.
In the West Bank, from the afternoon of November 1 to 9 PM on November 2, three Palestinians, including a child, were killed by Israeli forces. Since October 7, Israeli forces or settlers have killed 132 Palestinians, with 41 being children. Israeli forces were responsible for 124 deaths, including 40 children; settlers for 8, including a child. The death toll since October 7 accounts for over a third of all Palestinian fatalities in the West Bank in 2023, which has now reached 376. From November 1 to 2, Israeli forces detained 135 Palestinians, including two women, from across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Arrests since October 7 have soared, topping 1,900 Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem. The UN's OHCHR reports allegations of inhumane treatment of detainees, with two Palestinian deaths in custody during this period. Addameer published a report describing Israel’s retaliatory actions against Palestinian prisoners since October 7. Here is our full report on what is happening in the West Bank and East Jerusalem here.
❗ Urgently, community leaders within Palestine are calling on individuals to endorse a petition. This petition serves as a notice to elected representatives, declaring that constituents will abstain from voting due to the ongoing crisis, and furthermore, will suspend all financial contributions to the political party of those officials. It is an urgent call to residents of Canada and the United States to sign promptly in order to exert substantial pressure to halt the hostilities. Sign here.❗
In solidarity,
Cody